Bail slashed for accused ex-coach

Thursday, January 1, 2009 -- Anonymous (not verified)

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Thursday, January 1, 2009

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Jessica Fargen

Walpole’s former Coach of the Year, who faces statutory rape charges for a series of after-school hookups with a 15-year-old student, rang in the new year in a jail cell, but he’ll likely be out next week after a judge reduced his bail.

A judge yesterday slashed bail from $100,000 to $7,500 for former Walpole High football coach and ex-New England Patriot Daniel Villa, 44, but because it takes up to a week to set up a GPS monitoring system, he’ll remain locked up until Wednesday, when he’s scheduled to return to court.

In addition, Villa, an Arizona native whose wife filed for divorce Tuesday and is seeking custody of their four kids, has no place to live, making it impossible to rely on a GPS bracelet right now, said assistant Norfolk District Attorney Kate Welch yesterday.

“He is homeless. He has no place to go,” Welch said.

Villa, who resigned last week as a teacher, athletic director and coach, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges he raped and romanced the trusting teen student-athlete, texting her as many as 500 times in one month, police allege. A Wrentham District Court judge set his bail at $100,000.

But during a bail review hearing in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham yesterday, Villa’s attorney Heather Baer successfully argued before Judge Barbara A. Dortch-Okara that her client is not a flight risk and low bail would guarantee his return to court.

Villa, who played tackle for the Patriots from 1987-1991 and in 1997, spent Christmas with his parents outside Tucson, Ariz. He was arrested Saturday in Arizona after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Police allege that Villa once coached the 15-year-old basketball player, and that the two became romantically involved in October. Villa is accused of raping the girl three times inside his car during a series of late-night hookups.

The affair ended Dec. 11 - five days after Villa led the Walpole Rebels to a state championship - when the girl’s father discovered text messages between the two.

Baer has said that Villa’s parents, who are paying his legal bills, could afford up to $15,000 cash bail.

Villa, she said, has nothing left. “He has no job. He has no money to support himself,” Baer said. “The house is in his wife’s name.”

Villa’s legal team is working to find him housing. If he is released, Villa cannot have contact with the alleged victim or her family, or contact with anyone younger than 16, except his own children, and no contact with Walpole schools.